Progress Refurbishing Mini-Orchard. 11.27.22

 I hauled and spread five wheel-barrows of arborist tree chips, for the pathways in the mini-orchard.  I also laid out the general footprint for the planned planter that will have peppers next year.

This view shows Jonathan dwarf apple tree on Geneva 222.  I used the Geneva 222 for this one, instead of Bud-9, because Jonathan has so much less vigor compared to most other apple cultivars.

This view shows Akane on  Bud-9.

I think the right foreground mini-tree is Black Oxford apple on Bud-9.  I need to check.  In front of the raised bed is Porter apple on Bud-9.

Nemagon Mustard Cover Crop Germinating. 11.27.22

 It's interesting to watch how this over-winter cover crop is starting to grow.  I wasn't sure it would grow at all.  These are the Nemagon mustard seedlings.  Their purpose is to reduce crop diseases, serve as a winter cover crop to prevent weed growth, and act as a green manure when turned in, in the Spring.  This should help decrease dependence on bringing in materials from off site.  Materials from off site can be contaminated with plant diseases and pests, and even worse, herbicide residues,

I think the mustard will continue growing through the winter, just like weeds do.  I'll chop it and turn it under, when it starts to bloom in the Spring, or at least a few weeks before planting thectonato pkantsvin these beds.

Home Made Apple Tree Hybrid, So Far. Columnar X Red Flesh. 11.25.22

 In Spring, 2020, I manually pollinated some Redlove Calypso flowers with pollen from columnar Golden Sentinel.  Some fruits resulted.  Then I saved the seeds, stratified, and planted.  Three seedlings did well.  One had darker red leaves, one was more greenish red, one was green with red petioles.

That fall (2021), I planted the two red leaf saplings in the mini orchard.  This is the taller of those now.

The tall one is that sapling.  It's about 7 feet tall now.  The shorter one was a little less vigorous, and something chewed the tip, but it's still OK at about 4 or 5 feet tall now.

I don't know if this will bloom next Spring,  The side nubs look a bit like flower spurs but the buds don't look that much like flower buds, so far.

There is also one longer spur.

A few years ago, I read that the first blooms can come when an apple sapling has about 90 leaf nodes, and the first fruits at about 120 nodes.  This tree is at about that 120 node stage now.  It would be fun if it produces.  I can't say for certain, but it seems to be in a columnar shape.  Its sibling also produced only a vertical shoot, instead of multiple spreading branches, when topped. It's still only a guess how these will turn out.

The third sapling is in a differed area and I don't know yet if it survived.

Here are the original seedling of this cross.

Edit.  Wow, I can't believe I found the reference.  Here.  I think their data is based on saplings in containers, which might affect the blooming.  Trees seem to bloom at smaller size, in containers.  And here.  Transition from juvenile to adult vegetative phase is at about 77 internodes, and transition from adult vegetative to adult reproductive phase is at about 122 internodes.  Slightly different from what I remembered, but not too far off.    Re-reading that web page, maybe I can use the Bud-9 rootstocks, obtained by pulling off offshoots, as rootstock and graft the tips onto them. Just thinking.  Bud-9 is known to be precocious.

First Schlumbergera Flowers. 11.25.22

 These were cuttings I made a few years ago.  The mother plants were becoming too large for me to handle.  I had these on a bench, under a tree, all summer.  Minimal care.   I brought them indoors a few weeks ago and started watering them.   I gave them a little bloom food.

Cleaning Up Mini Orchard. 11.25.22

 I've been pulling weeds and putting down tree leaf mulch in the mini orchard.  A few mini trees needed moving to make room for a planned pepper planter.

So far, I removed weeds from the North, East, and West fences / tree rows.  Some of the middle is done as well.  After removing weeds, I lay a thick layer of tree leaf mulch.  The areas that are not cleaned up yet, in the center rows, will have a weed barrier topped with wood chip mulch, for pathways, and thatvplanned pepper planter.

This is one of the minitrees that I moved, SummerRed apple on Bud-9 rootstock.  It had two big shoots emerging from underground, below the graft.

I removed those shoots.  Their connection to the node is brittle.  They just break off.  They will give some rootstock to play with.  They don't have much root, but it doesn't take much. Some of the originals that I bought didn't have much root either.

I planted those temporarily in a raised bed.  

I moved two of the columnar apples on Bud-9, to the duck yard. They didn't have enough room now in the mini orchard, and one was replaced by the SummerRed.  

I had said in a previous comment that most of the columnar on Bud-9 were about three feet tall.  Now that I'm working with them, I have to correct that.  Only one is only about three feet tall.  The others are about 4 1/2 to 7 feet tall.  I think that's about perfect for me at this stage.  Columnar trees on vigorous rootstock grow way to big for my mini-orchard, and it's too challenging to keep them pruned down to seven or eight feet tall.  These will stay shorter.  Some had a few apples this year.  One of these was made from a Golden Sentinel apple tree, the other from a North Pole apple tree.  They are both tasty apple varieties.

The Bud-9 roots are not extensive at all.  I had to prune some due to bad shape or placement, but not as much as bare root trees this size are sold as.